Welcome to Professional and Technical Services (PTS) – experts in chemical disinfection for infection prevention. Our goal is to educate and provide you the latest resources related to cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces, medical devices and hands. As specialists in disinfectant chemistries, microbiology, environmental cleaning and disinfection, facility assessments and policy and procedure creation we are dedicated to helping any person or facility who uses chemical disinfectants.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Do you ever sit back and wonder how the human race has
managed to survive and evolve?I’ll
admit, there are days that I do.When we
first launched the Talk Clean to Me blog back in 2011, I wrote a blog titled “To
Clean or Not to Clean…” that opened with examples of self-cleaning
products.I’m embarrassed to say I now
own a self-cleaning kitty litter, but happy to say after 5 years, my
self-cleaning pool vacuum (aka my husband James) is still working fine!The focus of the self-cleaning blog was the
fact that cleaning is important.Cleaning is necessary as it removes dirt that can harbour
pathogens.It can save lives and while we
can develop self-cleaning devices, we cannot get away from having to physically
remove the dirt ourselves.

In October I wrote a blog “The
quest for the silver bullet” which again talked about our obsession with
developing surfaces that will kill pathogens.
As I concluded in that blog, it’s not that I’m against innovation, but what
I am against is the use of Silver Bullets like doorknobs, handrails, or what
have you made out of antimicrobial agents when we have not addressed the fact
that hand hygiene rates continue to be dismal or we continue to understaff
housekeeping departments.

Hence the title of this week’s blog. I’m not sure if we’ve just become a society built
on entitlement and laziness that think we’re too good to clean up after
ourselves, or if we are simply naïve because of the constant bombardment of new
technologies, or if we are just unaware
of the potential dangers that come with blindly believing in the success of these self-cleaning surfaces.

A recent letter to the editor in ICHE talks to just
this. Titled “Antimicrobial
Curtains: Are They as Clean as You Think?”, this
letter discusses an investigation to determine the degree of contamination of
antimicrobial curtains that had been implemented at their facility. The long and the short is that 95% of the
curtains they sampled showed bacterial growth and included both Gram-negative
and Gram-positive organisms! While there
are published studies that support the fact that there is a reduction of
pathogens on pre-treated textiles, there are studies that show that these
surfaces can and do become contaminated with pathogenic organisms. If we blindly believe that they only need to
be changed when visibly soiled, we are forgetting the fact that we cannot see
pathogens with our naked eye and could be ignoring a very real fomite that
could be the reservoir for contaminating the hands of healthcare workers. Can they help to reduce the load? Yes.
Should we wait until they look dirty to us to change? Probably not.
If we’re truly looking to protect our patients we probably should change
the curtains upon terminal cleaning regardless of how clean they look!

Friday, November 18, 2016

I bet many of you think your actions do not impact the
plight of antibiotic resistance.Answer
honestly – how many of you have been prescribed antibiotics for an infection
like strep
throat only to stop taking them after a few days because you felt better?If you answered yes, you my dear reader, are
helping to create antibiotic resistance.

This week is antibiotic
awareness week. Around the world,
healthcare workers, dentists, veterinarians, farmers, policy makers and we, the
consumer, are talking about ways to help reduce this threat. In case you did not know, antibiotic
resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health and food
security. It’s
easy to think that “it’s not going to affect me”, but the truth is antibiotic
resistance knows no boundaries; age, country, economic status, and health
status mean nothing to an antibiotic resistant bacteria. If you don’t believe me, check out the IDSA website and read the
stories of those who have been impacted by an antibiotic resistant
infection. Some like 9
yr old Brock Wade were lucky and survived.
Others like 21yr
Ricky Lannetti, a healthy football player,
were not and the lives of their families were impacted forever.

Aside from not finishing our antibiotic treatments, some of
the other causes of antibiotic resistance include:

Over-prescribing antibiotics.Infections like a cold or flu, while nasty to
deal with are caused by viruses.Viruses
cannot be treated with antibiotics.If you
have a cold, don’t beg your doctor for or go from walk-in clinic to walk-in
clinic in search of antibiotics.

Over-use of antibiotics in
livestock and fish farming.The good
news is starting in 2017, Veterinary
Feed Directives are being implemented that allow antibiotics to be used only
to treat disease and not aid in the growth of animals.

Poor infection control in
hospitals and clinics.

Lack of hygiene and poor
sanitation.The truth is most antibiotic
resistant bacteria are among the easiest organisms to kill with the proper use
of disinfectants.Ensuring we wash our
hands, tend to wounds or scrapes and clean our homes thoroughly and frequently
will help reduce the risk of transmission.

Lack of new antibiotics being
developed.

If you’re interested in learning more about some of the
specific antibiotic resistant organisms, cleaning
protocols and other tips to fight off antibiotic resistance organisms,
check out our most recent educational campaign – No ESKAPE!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Attending fall fairs is a rite of passage – at least for
those of us who grew up in the country.When I was showing horses, I literally went from fair to fair on
weekends competing.Those of us with
horses that could “ignore” the unusual sights and sounds did well.Those with skittish horses…..well……not so
much.I was one of the lucky ones.The Royal
Agricultural Winter Fair was one of my favorite events and to this day I
still love spending a day (or two) walking around looking at the vendors, the
farmers who have brought their best animals to be judged and of course, the
horses! Especially the show jumpers!

The best part of being around animals is of course petting
them. Growing up on a farm, as far as
I’m concerned, any animal can be a pet; cows, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, you
name it. Give me enough time with them
and they’ll be “pets”. For those who grew
up in cities and did not have the opportunity to be around farm animals, fall
fairs are an amazing opportunity to interact with them. However, we need to ensure that everyone
understands the potential risk of interacting with them. They can carry pathogens that make us sick making
hand washing so vital.

As we’re winding down to the end of the fair season, it was
with great interest that I came across the CDC’s notification that they have
found 4
variant virus infections linked to pigs.
According to the study, the CDC has confirmed that 18 people (16 of
which were children) from Michigan and Ohio were found to have been infected
with a flu virus (Influenza A H3N2) which is associated with pigs. All 18 patients reported exposure in some
form to pigs at agricultural fairs.
There were no deaths associated with the cluster and there was no evidence
suggesting the virus transmitted from person to person. While they did not find proof that there was
person-to-person transmission what they did find is that some of the viruses
found were reassortant,
meaning both human and swine genetic material was found. The fact that there were genes of human
origin indicates that the virus could be in a position to become more likely to
spread from person to person.

All is not lost however, fall fairs are safe. We just need to be smart. If you’re planning on attending a fall fair,
remember that animals can carry pathogens that make us sick. The single most important thing we can do is wash
our hands after petting the animals and certainly before eating! We also need to avoid putting our hands on
our faces or in our mouths. My rule is
every time is see a hand sanitizer station, I use it!

I don’t have time to attend The Royal this year, but there
are still 3 days left – so if you’re in the Toronto, Ontario area and have
never been, I highly recommend it!

Friday, November 4, 2016

Being in the infection prevention business, many people may
think that means I obsess over the cleanliness of our home. While I may not “obsess”, I will admit I do “nag”
when it comes to hand hygiene. I’m
pretty sure by the age of 4, my son was conducting hand hygiene audits of his
preschool classmates, and I do fondly recall having one of those proud mommy
moments when my son realized that someone had not washed their hands after
using the restroom. Admittedly there was
a bit of “public shaming” involved – you know the kind that only a child can
get away with? A child yelling out in a
public restroom “Mommy – that woman did not wash her hands! GROSS!”
It was a moment of equal parts
mortification and delight; mortification of the “public shaming” and delight
over realizing my nagging really was getting through!

Most of us know that children, particularly young children,
have immature immune systems that improve and strengthen with age. But are you aware of the number of child
deaths that occur each year from infectious diseases? I didn’t.
I did however, get an alert of a new report, "Small
Steps for Big Change", that was just released by the Global Hygiene Council (GHC) that investigates the alarming burden of
preventable infectious diseases in children worldwide.

According to the report, more than 3 million children under the
age of 5 die from infectious diseases each year. Of that 3 million, almost a million die from
pneumonia, and more than 700,000 children under the age of 5, die as a result
of diarrhea. The report also indicates
that the general public are pretty cavalier when it comes to improving our
cleaning and disinfection practices in our homes. In fact, 52% of families do not increase
surface disinfection at home during the cold and flu season. Further, 31% of reported foodborne outbreaks
occur in at home – something to think about with the US Thanksgiving Holiday
fast approaching!

In an attempt to try
and improve both our personal and home hygiene practises, the Global Hygiene
Council has developed a 5-step plan that includes; improve worldwide hygiene, hand
hygiene, kitchen hygiene, cleaning frequently touched surfaces, and just plain
improvement personal hygiene in general.
The study concludes that families, communities and healthcare
professionals need to acknowledge that improved hygiene is effectively a first
line of defence in preventing the spread of infection. If we adopt better hygiene practices we could
have a dramatic impact on improving the lives of young children around the
world.

While I strive to set a high standard for hand hygiene, I do
not obsess over disinfecting each and every surface in our home. Heck, I can’t even pretend that I always step
up cleaning of the high touch surfaces in our home when one or more of us have
a cold or flu…. Like many, I try my
best. I hope that by revealing the
staggering number of childhood deaths, we as a community, can work to improve
everyone’s understanding of the importance of hygiene. I hope, however, we don’t get into “public
shaming” of people when their hygiene is not the same as ours – not everyone
has the same easy access as many of us to clean water and cleaning
products. I do think (hope) that by
drawing attention to the relatively simple 5 steps that can be instituted to
improve hygiene, we will save many of those 3 million children.